Solana Beach to revisit plastic bag ban

Merchants don’t like charging customers for paper

Shopper Brian Fletcher of Carlsbad, who picked up a case of beer Thursday at the Solana Beach Bev Mo, said that if the city continues to impose the 10-cent fee, it should go toward the cost of fabric bags.

“If we’re helping a cause (by not using plastic bags), the stores should help out with the cost of the reusable bags. They should be provided at no cost or a low cost, not $3 or $5,” Fletcher said.

King said the city cannot tell the stores what to do with the collected fees, but in the ordinance it recommends that they use the money to promote their reusable bag programs.

King said the city is meeting with Olson next week to further discuss her ideas. He said the city will also be looking into whether sales are down at the stores since the ordinance went into effect.

“We’re waiting on the tax returns to take a look at that to see if businesses have been affected,” he said.

King said the ordinance will be discussed at a council meeting in the next couple of months.

Maryanne Jackson of Carmel Valley, who picked up several bags — all reusable — of groceries from Sprouts on Thursday in Solana Beach, said she supports the ban, fee and all.

“I’m in favor of anything we can do to make people more alert and more conscious of their daily disposal habits,” she said, adding that she’s used fabric shopping bags for about two years.

“There’s no way we can pass on what we’ve been doing to our poor Earth to our grandchildren.”